January 23rd through January 29th

January 23rd through January 29th: Monday: We went downtown to the Basilica of the National Vow.  Construction began in 1892 and it was consecrated in 1988, but remains technically unfinished because the local legend is that when it is finished the world will end.  It is an amazing building. 

It is hard to get a good picture of the outside because the building is built on a hill.

This brass door repesents the baptism of one of the indigenous people.

It is massive inside.

There are hundreds of stained glass windows.

We then took an elevator to the bottom of the towers, level 10 and then I climbed to the top of this small tower.

The views were fantastic.

Video of the views.

The gargoyles are birds in flight.

I then climbed to the top of one of the main towers.  8 flights of stairs.

Looking across at the other tower.  I am looking out of the small window that is in the middle of the triangle.

View of the Panacillo.

Looking down

We then took a taxi to the Volcano Park and rode the tram close to the top of Pichincha.  The top of the tram is 13,287 feet above sea level, but the top of the volcano is another 2000 feet. It was a clear day when we start up. 

This is mural in the building where we bought our tram tickets.

View from the top.

We made it to the top of the tram.

View of Quito on the way down.  Those two poles are for bikes so you can ride your bike down.

Video on the trip down.

Tuesday through Friday:  We worked the morning shifts.  I am mostly still training officiators for the endowment sessions and Chris is still training in initiatory. Tuesday we went to lunch with the Cameron's, the office couple and Thursday we met up with the Cameron's and President and Sister Winters for lunch at Top Ten Burgers. 

Lunch at Top Ten Burgers.

It is probably top ten for Quito but would not make it on my top ten list for Utah.  We had a lot of large groups from Otavalo this past week. 

It is always fun to see them come by bus and all be dressed in their traditional clothing.  Saturday was another long day.  During the week we were able to do two endowment sessions and a sealing session in the evenings.  Sunday: We went to church and then the Cameron's came and together we took an Uber to Papallacta in the mountains.  We had lunch and then checked into our hotel and spent a few hours in the hot pools right outside of our rooms. 

Lunch at Papallacta with the Cameron's

We are going to spend P-Day relaxing in the hot pools and maybe even treat ourselves to a massage.